Academia is a collective term for the scientific and cultural community engaged in higher education and peer-reviewed research, taken as a whole. The word comes from the akademeia just outside ancient Athens, where the Gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning. The sacred space had formerly been an olive grove, hence the expression "the groves of Academe". By extension Academia has come to connote the cultural accumulation of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations and its practitioners and transmitters. In the 17th century, English and French religious scholars popularized the term to describe certain types of institutions of higher learning. The English adopted the form academy while the French adopted the forms acadème and académie.

An academic is a person who works as a researcher (and usually teacher) at a university or similar institution in post-secondary (or tertiary) education. He or she is nearly always an advanced degree holder who does peer-reviewed research. In the United States, the term academic is approximately synonymous with that of the job title professor. In the United Kingdom, various titles are used, typically fellow, lecturer, reader and professor (see also academic rank), though the loose term don is often popularly substituted. The term "scholar" is sometimes used with equivalent meaning to that of "academic" and describes in general those who attain mastery in research discipline. It has wider application in its being also used to describe those whose occupation was scientific or pseudo-scientific research prior to mass organised higher education.

Academic administrators are not typically included in this use of the term academic.

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RT: @HebrewU #Israeli & #Australian academics call for water conservation co-operation #Hebrew http://bit.ly/6qjdF7
issaeb (Issa Boursheh) Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:18:44 -0000
RT: @HebrewU #Israeli & #Australian academics call for water conservation co-operation #Hebrew http://bit.ly/6qjdF7
RT @vwadhwa: Powerful argument about the ignorance of some "do gooders" and misguided academics. http://bit.ly/yGkMp ...happens everywhere
ronaldmannak (Ronald Mannak) Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:02:28 -0000
RT @vwadhwa: Powerful argument about the ignorance of some "do gooders" and misguided academics. http://bit.ly/yGkMp ...happens everywhere
"Fuck theatrical Baby girl because you actual Physically your chemistry is so mathematical Had to use academics to define your spirit...
LadyLifer_Dee (Danyielle Moore) Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:46:15 -0000
"Fuck theatrical Baby girl because you actual Physically your chemistry is so mathematical Had to use academics to define your spirit...
Financial implications of Tiger's 'trangressions' - either academics have too much time or are just bored. http://ow.ly/R0Kl link via...
majiwater (S. Hyder) Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:39:44 -0000
Financial implications of Tiger's 'trangressions' - either academics have too much time or are just bored. http://ow.ly/R0Kl link via...
Dissertations on His Dudeness: As a new generation of “The Big Lebowski” fans emerge, academics focus on the cult film. http://bit.ly/7g0fMT
oric (Oric S. De Las Casas) Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:16:30 -0000
Dissertations on His Dudeness: As a new generation of “The Big Lebowski” fans emerge, academics focus on the cult film. http://bit.ly/7g0fMT
#yahooin2009 Bioinformatics Department of Sathyabama University have won Best Performance award for Academics and Resarch in 2009@Annual eve
harishchandera (HARISHCHANDER ) Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:07:50 -0000
#yahooin2009 Bioinformatics Department of Sathyabama University have won Best Performance award for Academics and Resarch in 2009@Annual eve

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